[Gene-regulating chemoprevention against cancer--as a model for "molecular-targeting prevention" of cancer]

Abstract

Recent progress in molecular biology and genetics has improved understanding of the mechanisms of carcinogenesis. However, there are few effective methods for prevention or therapies against cancer based on such elucidated molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis. We therefore tried to develop novel methods of cancer prevention and therapy based on them. For example, the tumor-suppressor gene p53 is mutated in about 50% of human malignancies or in a cancer-prone family with Li-Fraumeni syndrome. It is known that p53 stimulates the promoter activities of p21/WAF1, gadd45 and bax genes to enhance their expression as a transcriptional factor, resulting in cell cycle arrest, DNA repair and apoptosis, respectively. Therefore, chemical compounds or food factors that can stimulate these genes might compensate for part of the p53 function. As a model of our hypothesis, we found that histone deacetylase inhibitors such as butyrate and trichostatin A dramatically stimulate the p21/WAF1 gene promoter through the Sp1 sites, resulting in cell cycle arrest. We therefore hypothesized that a strategy for up-regulating p53-target genes such as p21/WAF1, gadd45 and bax might be useful for cancer prevention or therapy, and termed this method "Gene-regulating chemoprevention" or "Gene-regulating chemotherapy" against cancer. In fact, butyrate, a short chain fatty acid, exists in colon lumen as a metabolite of dietary fiber, and is believed to be preventive against colon cancer. In conclusion, we proposed that "Gene-regulating chemoprevention" and "Gene-regulating chemotherapy" may be new promising strategies for cancer prevention or therapy, and histone deacetylase inhibitors are good candidates for these strategies. "Gene-regulating chemoprevention" is a particularly suitable model for "Molecular-targeting prevention", which we have proposed recently. We believe that "Molecular-targeting prevention" will become one of the most important concepts in the 21st century for general prevention of a variety of common hereditary or non-hereditary common diseases.